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The busyness of the nuclear fuel supply chain
Ken Petersenpresident@ans.org
With all that is happening in the industry these days, the nuclear fuel supply chain is still a hot topic. The Russian assault in Ukraine continues to upend the “where” and “how” of attaining nuclear fuel—and it has also motivated U.S. legislators to act.
Two years into the Russian war with Ukraine, things are different. The Inflation Reduction Act was passed in 2022, authorizing $700 million in funding to support production of high-assay low-enriched uranium in the United States. Meanwhile, the Department of Energy this January issued a $500 million request for proposals to stimulate new HALEU production. The Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2024 includes $2.7 billion in funding for new uranium enrichment production. This funding was diverted from the Civil Nuclear Credits program and will only be released if there is a ban on importing Russian uranium into the United States—which could happen by the time this column is published, as legislation that bans Russian uranium has passed the House as of this writing and is headed for the Senate. Also being considered is legislation that would sanction Russian uranium. Alternatively, the Biden-Harris administration may choose to ban Russian uranium without legislation in order to obtain access to the $2.7 billion in funding.
E. Anselmi, J. Raby, A. Balland-Longeau
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 45 | Number 2 | March 2004 | Pages 157-164
Technical Paper | Target Fabrication | doi.org/10.13182/FST04-A443
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Inertial Confinement Fusion experiments are conducted in polymer capsule in which nuclear products are located. In order to vary optical properties, we need to develop polyimides with high mechanical properties in which we have to substitute all the hydrogen atoms by deuterium atoms. The best way to obtain deuterated polymer is to deuterate monomers instead of direct deuteration of polymers. In a first part, mechanical properties of aromatic polyimide films based on two dianhydrides (pyromellitic dianhydride PMDA and 3,3',4,4'-biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydride BPDA) and two diamines (4,4'-oxydianiline ODA and pphenylenediamine PDA) have been described. The optimization of synthesis and fabrication parameters of polyimide films PMDA/ODA and BPDA/PDA having high inherent viscosity, so high molecular weight, have allowed us to obtain high mechanical properties. And in a second part, deuterated monomers have been synthesized via multi-steps organic reactions and/or under pressure conditions. We have investigated the preparation of deuterated poly(amic-acid) solutions in NMP and the preparation of the corresponding polyimides deuterated membranes. Results show that deuterium does not affect the reactivity of monomers to form the poly(amic-acid) solution.